Consider Me Gone
by Mad-like
Summary: A Mercedes and Sam story.  Why they wanted to get married, whether or not they did, and what happened next.  There's a fair amount of Blaine and a little Kurt.
1. Chapter 1  Consider Me Gone

Mercedes Jones closed her locker and jumped when she saw Sam Evans standing on the other side.

"Sam!. Why are you lurking there?"

"I wanted to ask if you want to go out for coffee after school." He smiled what he hoped was his most disarming smile.

"Go out for coffee." she repeated after him, frowning. As if the words didn't make sense. "Go out for coffee. Where?"

"Where we usually go."

"No." She said slowly. "I told you I'm not doing that anymore. If you don't want to be seen in public with me-"

"It's not that. It's just..."

"Just what?" She waited for an answer that she knew wasn't coming. "You can be seen with Quinn, you can be seen with Santana. You can't be seen with me." She smiled sadly, as if she had known all along that it would end this way. "How about we leave it like this - you have an image you're trying to project and I don't fit. You need a pretty, skinny cheerleader type, preferably with blue eyes and blond hair, though that's negotiable. I get it."

"Listen," he said shifting his weight from one foot to the other, "do we have to talk about this right now?"

"No, we don't have to talk about it all." The first period bell rang, "I apologize for the blue eyed blonde part. That was uncalled for. I gotta go. I'll miss you, goodbye."

"Mr. Schuester, you said you wanted to hear something different? Reba McEntire." Mercedes sat down next to Brad and started to sing the country song, using just the right amount of twang, something she'd learned from Sam.

She'd said it was "just a song" for this assignment but looked directly at Sam when she sang

"If you don't get drunk on my kiss  
>If you think you can do better than this<br>Then I guess we're done  
>Let's not drag this on<br>Consider me gone.  
>Consider me a memory.<br>Consider me the past.  
>Consider me a smile in an old photograph, someone who used to make you laugh.<br>Consider me gone,  
>Just consider me gone."<p>

"Very good, Mercedes." Mr. Schuester said when she finished. "You see class, that's what I'm talking about."

"Thank you Mr. Schuester." she said sweetly. "And thank you, Brad." That was something she'd learned from Rachel. Brad actually smiled, thought it was hard to tell. She went back to her seat without looking at Sam.

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	2. Chapter 2 WalkingThe Dog

Mercedes was sitting on her front steps, tossing a ball to a puppy when Sam walked up.

"You got a dog?"

"No, I got new neighbors. Guess what the little girl next door named him?"

"I give up. What?"

"Puppy. She named him Puppy. Probably grow up to be 200 lbs. He's a good dog, Stevie and Stacey can play with him the next time they're over here." She threw the ball to the far side of the yard.

"That's what I came over to ask you about."

"What?"

"If we're, if I'm" he hesitated "still welcome here."

Puppy ran up with the ball in his mouth. She threw it again. "The reason you started coming over here was to avoid having to amuse two little kids in a laundromat. You... me... whatever... the laundry still needs to be done. Somebody will be home to let you in, just call first. It's like a boarding house here anyway, always somebody coming or going. And there's so many people here for Sunday dinner, my mom might wonder why your family's not there." She stayed focused on the dog the whole time. "My folks didn't know about us so northing's changed as far as they're concerned."

"I'm sorry. About how I treated you."

"Yeah. Well. I went along with it so..."

"Are you mad at me?"

"Not anymore." She looked up at him with a sad half smile. "It's not like either one of us can help what we are or what we want. The heart wants what it wants, and it doesn't want what it doesn't want. Woody Allen said something like that. I hope you find what you're looking for Sam." She looked past him as smiled broadly.

"Gotta walk the dog." She said standing up. She put the dog on a leash and left with some guy Sam vaguely recognized from band.

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	3. Chapter 3  The Guitar Man

Sam Evans overslept, again, and was in the school office getting a late slip when he ran into the last person he expected to see at McKinley High. At first he thought it was that mysterious dog-walker because they both had black hair. Only the dog-walker had longish straight hair and this boy had longish curly hair.

Blaine Anderson was standing there, with Mercedes' mother of all people, talking to Principal Figgins. Mrs. Jones noticed Sam and walked over.

"Sam! Good to see you again. Sorry you had to work yesterday, we missed you at lunch."

"Thank you, Mrs. Jones." Sam had volunteered to work Sunday to avoid going to lunch at Mercedes' house. He wanted to give her time to calm down.

"You know Blaine, I think. Kurt's friend? He just transferred here. He's staying with us for the rest of the school year."

"Why?" Sam wanted to ask. He got his opportunity when the principal asked him to show Blaine the way to his first class.

"Since when are you living at Mercedes' house?"

"Friday."

So that must have been what she meant about living in a boarding house and people coming and going. "Why?"

"My father and I had a...a difference of opinion on a few things."

"Like what?"

Blaine glanced over at him. "Like things. How many students are there here?" Blaine had a whole string of question to deflect Sam. How many students, how many floors, where's the cafeteria, where's the gym, where's the bathroom, where's the nurse? Sam half expected him to ask for the janitor's name. He kept asking questions until they got to their destination, room 314.

Mercedes was evidently expecting him because she had saved him a seat next to her, or maybe she always sat by herself. Sam noticed some of the girls sat up straighter when Blaine walked in and looked surprised when he sat with Mercedes, like she didn't deserve to have a good-looking guy sitting next to her. In any case, they probably didn't recognize him as Kurt's prom date, based on they way they were looking at him. Most likely it was the hair, he looked younger with his hair long and dressed in jeans and a shirt instead of a suit.

* * *

><p>It had been pretty obvious that Blaine didn't intend to discuss why he transfered to McKinley. Sam was pondering possible scenarios when he almost knocked down a boy in the hallway.<p>

"Excuse me." he mumbled.

"It's okay." the kid replied.

Sam looked up to find himself face to face with none other than the dog walker.

"Hey."

"Hey." The other boy looked puzzled.

"You're Mercedes' dog walking friend."

He smiled. "Most people just call me Tim."

"Sam."

"Okay, but at we've actually met before. I'm in band? There's three guitarists and I'm the Asian one? As opposed to the white one or the girl?"

"I thought you looked familiar."

"Well then." he paused. "Are you going to move or do I have to squeeze by you?" He smiled as if he'd enjoy that very much.

"Sorry" Sam said stepping aside.

"Hmmmm."

* * *

><p>Lately Mercedes would stop and talk to the band kids before practice started. She was talking to Tim and they both looked over at Sam. Mercedes shrugged at whatever Tim was saying before going to the other side of the room, where the glee kids sit.<p>

"Sam, can I talk to you for a minute after practice? Alone."

Finally, she was coming to her senses Sam thought.

* * *

><p>"Tim wants to know if you were hitting on him. He said it's cool if you were, he just wants to be sure he wasn't misinterpreting what happened earlier. I told him I thought you were straight but that I'd ask anyway."<p>

"What? No! I wanted to make sure he wasn't hitting on you."

She stared at him. "Why would you care if he was?"

"I didn't want you to get hurt."

She picked up her books. "Right. Because that's your job." She left without looking back.

* * *

><p>Mercedes had never allowed herself to dwell on fantasies involving Sam, white picket fences and a yard full of beautiful bi-racial children. She knew the difference between the words "discreet" and "secret". She knew the purpose of a "secret girlfriend" and had gone alone with it...to a point.<p>

Until that night they were making out in her car and instead of feeling flushed and excited, like usual, she felt sleazy. That was the first time she asked Sam why she was a secret. He couldn't answer that question and she got madder every time she asked. You'd think he would have come up with something by now.

It's funny, she thought as she sat on the front steps of the school, I don't remember falling in love with Sam but I remember exactly when the relationship died, right there in the backseat of my car. I won't see him in secret, he won't see me in public. Why does he even give a damn about what I'm doing, or not doing, with Tim? I'd never pick Sam for the stalker type.

She sensed someone sitting down next to her. She hoped it was Sam so she could slap him. She thought about how she'd spend the resulting suspension, she could use a few days off.

"Well?" It was Tim.

"Well, what?"

"Well, did you talk to Sam?"

"Yeah, bad news. He wasn't hitting on you."

"Too bad. So, why was he acting like he wanted to be my new best friend?"

"He wanted to know if you were hitting on me."

"Hmmmm." He looked at her. "I can see that. You guys would be cute together."

"No. We used to go out. It was a secret". She said using air quotes around the word "secret".

"He already had another girlfriend at the time?"

"Nope."

"Then why was it a secret?"

"Damn, you're smart! It took me two months to think to ask that question."

"Been there, done that, got the scars to prove it. My "secret boyfriend" wasn't out so it kinda made sense. Or at least I wanted it to make sense." He stood up and offered her his hand. "Anyway, you're paying for guitar lessons, not advice to the lovelorn. Let's get to work."

"Work, work, work. You know, really good singers don't have to practice so much." she stood up and started following him into the building.

"That's what you keep saying. Do you think your teacher is getting suspicious of all that Steely Dan yet?"

"He thinks it's Aretha Franklin. Every time I open my mouth he hears Aretha."

"Hmmm. Donald Fagen/Aretha Franklin. I can see how people confuse the two." He laughed. "We should see if they've worked together. Then you can pull that out when he asks why you're singing a 5 minute song that's 4 minutes of guitar solos. Hey, Can you give me a ride home when we get done?"

"Sure, I rode in with Blaine so he's coming back later."

"Blaine and Kurt still together?"

"Strong as ever."

"Damn, that makes me 0 for 2. What are you, a gay guy magnet?"

"Seems like it. I guess gay guys don't mind being seen with fat girls."

"I thought you lost weight, or is it just that you're dressing differently?"

"Both, thanks for noticing."


	4. Chapter 4 Until You Come Back To Me

Blaine had just finished singing "_Part of Your World_" from _The Little Mermaid_ for "Something Unexpected" week, dedicating the song to New Directions. Through a murky chain of events he had wound up living at Mercedes' house and attending McKinley High.

The living with Mercedes part was pretty straightforward, he wasn't the first member of New Directions to end up there. Kurt lived there when his mother died. Quinn lived there when she was pregnant. Tina had even lived there for two days when she was five, though neither Tina or Mercedes remembered it. Tina was one of a string of emergency placements Mrs. Jones, a social worker for the county, had handled and she hadn't been there very long.

The murky part was the exact nature of the incident that resulted in his expulsion from prep school and getting kicked out of both of his parent's houses, his father in Columbus and his mother in Toledo. Sam suspected that had something to do with Kurt, probably got caught having sex on school property. Blaine was madly in love with Kurt but otherwise he didn't seem the type to do random stupid things just to cause trouble. Now Puck, since Lauren graduated, was just the type to do something pointless that would result in an expulsion.

Sam looked over at Mercedes, who was sitting in the back row, next to Tina. She was staring at that bracelet he'd gotten her during Nationals. Staring at it and twisting it around her wrist, like she was wondering why she was still wearing it. Why was she still wearing it? She'd said she was done with him, and why wouldn't she be? Who wouldn't interpret 'secret girlfriend' as 'not pretty enough to be seen in public with'? It was a wonder she put up with it as long as she did. _ I'm an idiot to let her get away_, Sam thought.

Maybe she wasn't as pretty as Quinn, in the ways people defined pretty. Fact was, she was beautiful, in the ways that count. She was generous, she was kind, she made him laugh, she was honest. She was even nice about the breakup. When she sang _"Consider Me Gone"_ she said it was for nobody. He knew she knew "_Dixie Chicken_". She knew he would hate to be called a "Tennessee Lamb." If Santana had bothered to find a song about Memphis, assuming she had bothered to ask where he was from, he definitely would have heard a song a Memphis skank. Sam didn't realize how close he'd come to hearing that song but Tina had convinced Mercedes it was petty, vindictive and very Santana-ish. It was the comparison to Santana that stopped her.

"Sam, you're last." Mr. Schuester said. "What do you have for us?"

"Cyndi Lauper – and it's for Mercedes." She looked up, surprised, and stopped twirling the bracelet.

"Though you don't call anymore,  
>I sit and wait in vain.<br>I guess I'll rap on your door, tap on your window pane.  
>I want to tell you baby, the changes I've been going through.<br>Missing you.  
>Listen you.<br>Till you come back to me, that's what I'm gonna do,"

She was whispering to Tina while staring at Sam. Actually a lot of people were staring at him, most with a "what the hell?" expression. Kurt was smirking. Blaine looked amused. Tina was whispering back.

Mercedes turned to face Tina directly and they seemed to be arguing, right there in the back row during class. She was startled when somebody tapped her on the shoulder and Mercedes turned to see Sam standing beside her.

"I'm sorry. Forgive me? Please?" She stared at him for what seemed an eternity. "Please?"

"Jesus, Mercedes, cut the boy some slack. At least he knows when he's screwed up." Tina said.

Mercedes stood up. "I'm sorry, Sam. It's too late." She handed him the bracelet.

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	5. Chapter 5 Beautiful

Stacy and Stevie had a secret they were bursting to tell. Mercedes could tell that right away. They stood on her front porch, hopping up and down while Mrs. Evans handed Mercedes a box.

"We made you a pie, Grandma Evan's secret recipe sweet potato pie." She said handing her the box.

"Thank you. How did you make a pie at the motel?"

Stacey and Stevie were about to explode but they waited until Mrs. Evans nodded to them.

"We moved! And it's got bedrooms and a kitchen and everything!" Stacey yelled. They both hugged Mercedes so hard she almost fell over.

"This was the first thing they wanted to do." Mrs. Evans laughed at her youngest children. "Let's make a pie for Mercedes."

"Thank you, Stacey. Thank you, Stevie." She kissed each of them in turn.

"And thank you, Mrs. Evans." she hugged the older woman.

"You're welcome. Is it possible for them to see the puppy Sam mentioned? I'd like to talk to you alone."

"Yes. That puppy thinks he lives here. He's very good with children. We can watch them from the back porch."

They walked though the house, depositing the pie on the kitchen table, and sat on the back steps while Stevie and Stacey played with the neighbor's dog.

"Mercedes, can you to tell me if something's wrong with Sam? You're as close to him as anybody."

There were two surprising concepts in that sentence; that something's wrong with Sam and she's the person closest to him.

"No ma'am. There's nothing that I know of."

"I know that you would try to protect a friend, not reveal something that you were told in confidence, but I need to know if he...if he's involved in something and is in over his head. Something dangerous."

"Like drugs or something? I'm pretty sure he's not." She looked so worried, and also like she didn't believe Mercedes.

"I know it seems like a little thing, but he yelled at Stacey yesterday, then he teased her when she cried. He's never done that before, we don't do that at our house. He's been acting strange for the last month or so. I thought it was stress but things are looking up for our family and he's getting worse. He won't talk to me, he won't talk to his dad. I'm hoping your mom can help me out, she knows about so many community resources, but I need to know what kind of help I'm looking for. I had hoped you could tell me."

Mercedes looked down at her hands. "We broke up about a month ago."

Mrs. Evans looked surprised. "I didn't know you guys were serious about each other. Can I ask why you broke up?"

"I don't think...Sam...was comfortable...being seen with me."

She looked shocked. "Why not? He had black girlfriends before, back home."

"Were they skinny?" she felt tears about to start.

Mrs. Evans put her arm around the young woman. "Mercedes, you are beautiful. Don't ever forget that and don't waste your time with people who think you're too this and not enough that. That's all people like that can do, waste your time. I'm sorry that Sam made you feel bad, he's wrong about you. You're perfect."

"Thank you." Mercedes was blinking back the tears as she heard her mother come in the front door.

"Mercy! Sam's mom is on her way over so I need you to -Sharon! You're here already!"

"Thank you again." She said softly to Mrs. Evans. "Mom, they made us a pie, in their own kitchen" she called to her mother.

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	6. Chapter 6  Don't Forget

Sam looked at his new room. He didn't have an actual room, but at least he had privacy, kinda. This was a two-bedroom apartment but his parents had rearranged the room functions so Sam could have what was technically the dining room. His mother put curtains over the door that led into the kitchen and they used the living room for eating. It was okay, it was going to be okay, everything would be okay.

He tried to figure out where to put his stuff, what little stuff he had left. He sighed and instead looked out the window. Their apartment faced the parking lot but they were on top of a hill so it was a pretty enough view. He saw his mother walking up the hill carrying groceries.

"Thank you, Sam." she said, smiling at him as he ran out to help. "Crazy, isn't it? Being happy about buying groceries?"

"Yes ma'am. I'm really glad to be out of that motel."

"I think we're all glad to have a little space." They were in the apartment putting away groceries. When they finished he started to go back to his room when she stopped him.

"Sam, I need to talk to you for a minute. Have a seat."

Sam sat down and looked at her warily. She sat down next to him.

"First, you have to apologize to Stacey. That was unacceptable the way you treated her yesterday. That's not how this family works."

"But mom-"

"No buts. You were being cruel and that's not allowed. We don't speak to each other like that. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Second, I saw Mercedes today, the kids made her a pie. Whatever happened between you two is between you two. However, I want you to ask yourself something. You gave up something valuable, was it worth it? Are you happier now than you were before?"

Sam had never thought about it that way.

"Third, you need to stop working on school nights. It's affecting your grades and we can survive without the money. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Okay. Anything you want to say?"

"No ma'am."

She leaned over and kissed on on the forehead. She hadn't done that in years. "I love you. Thanks for all your help these past couple of months. Can you call in everybody? Dad took Stacey and Stevie to the playground."

When Sam opened his locker the next morning an envelope fell out. He knew it was from Mercedes because it was addressed, in purple ink, to Stacy and Stevie Evans. He shoved it into his backpack.

Dear Stacey and Stevie,

Thank you very much for the delicious pie. It was the best sweet potato pie ever, even better than my grandma's secret recipe (don't tell anybody I said that).

Congratulations on your new home. Enclosed is a housewarming present from my family to yours.

Love,

Mercedes.

She had included a gift card for $200 at the local supermarket.

Mercedes found an envelope in her locker the next morning. She knew it was from Stacey because it was decorated with stickers and sparkles. There were three letters in the envelope.

Mercedes, thank you sooooooo much for the present! My mom brought us ice cream! cookie dough! Love, Stacey and Stevie

Mercedes, thank you very much for the generous present. It was a very thoughtful gift and very much appreciated. Love, The Evans Family

Mercedes, thanks for everything you did for my family, and for me. I don't know what we, or I, would have done without your help. I'm sorry things ended the way they did. Sam

Mercedes was sitting in the practice room when Sam handed her a notebook without saying a word. At first she thought it was a video of The Maltese Falcon, her favorite movie, but no, it was a notebook. She flipped it open and read the first page.

Mercedes, what did you think when Rachel stood up and talked about Natalie Cole blah, blah, blah and then proceeded to pour Barbara Streisand all over "Someone That I Used to Love"? Do you think Schue knew the difference? Sam

P.S. Okay, I only know about Barbara Streisand because I was sitting next to Kurt and he goes "that's so Barbara!" and I go "Barbara who?" and he goes "Barbara Streisand!" like I just fell off the turnip truck.

She started writing. Sam, the girl has nerve, I've gotta hand it to her. She's all about Streisand but that was damned good Streisand! Mercedes.

P.S Cool notebook!

Mercedes, I really liked the song you sang with Tina today. "You could have just propped me up like a mannequin, or a cardboard stand up, and paint me any face that you wanted to be seen with." Sometimes I feel like that. Like everybody sees what they want to see, not me. Anyway, who was that? I missed it when she said. Sam

Sam, Tina was Ben Folds. I was supposed to be Regina Spektor. Remember when we did the set list for the Junior Prom and I made you listen to 20 versions of "You Don't Know Me" before settling on John Legend? Well, that song also called "You Don't Know Me." Tina and I both like it.

Yeah, I guess a lot of people feel that way. Me, mostly I feel invisible. I guess that's why I like the band kids so much, they used to be invisible to me. Mercedes

Mercedes, I get your point about you and the band kids being invisible. BTW, is that why you're singing so much Steely Dan lately? Al and Tim are really good guitarists, too bad we all tune out when they start playing. So how is it having tag team tutors? Sam

Sam, Ali (that's what Al is calling herself these days, her real name is Alice) is a slave-driver. She's so good I think I frustrate her. Tim's real laid-back and extra patient. Did you know the band won a title last year? Ben, Ali's brother, won an all-expense paid scholarship to some program in LA and Ali's almost as good as him (as he is?).

You and Blaine killed "Over the Rainbow". I heard you guys practicing in Blaine's room the other day but didn't recognize it at the time. I like it like that, jazzy, fast and happy. Who was that? Mercedes

Mercedes, Eric Clapton and thanks. For a song about rainbows and bluebirds the traditional version is kinda depressing. Anyway, Blaine's so easy to work with I don't know why Puck doesn't like him. Puck's always got some smart-ass comment about him, more than he's got about Kurt.

It seems like you haven't sung in forever. I hope that means you're working on something special. I miss hearing you. I miss you. (Sorry, I know I'm not supposed to say things like that.)

Okay, ignore that last part. I can't hardly wait to hear what you're working on. Sam

Sam, Ali and Tim think I can tackle Leonard Cohen, maybe next week. I guess I have to turn my Steely Dan crown over to Brit. Not bragging when I say I'm a better singer than she is but when she started dancing in the middle of "Reeling in the Years" I couldn't take my eyes off her. She's the best dancer I've ever seen. Period. She made the guitar solo make sense.

That was a good idea, for once, Schue had last week. How did he know that you, Blaine and Puck had all been Joseph in middle school? "Close Every Door" was awesome the way you guys did it. I always liked that song. I hope Puck didn't drive you too crazy. Mercedes

Mercedes, that was so NOT Leonard Cohen! I liked it a lot, who was it? What did you mean when you said "Life is loving and letting go?" Which are you doing now? Sam

Sam, "Don't Forget" by Brett Dennen. I don't know which I am doing. M

P.S. I did mean the part "may you spread your love like laughter and find whatever you're after".

M, I did once but I was too stupid to know it. S

P.S. I really mean it.

P.P.S. Let me know if that kind of stuff makes you feel sad and I'll stop talking that way. Promise.

S, stop talking that way? We've been passing this notebook back and forth for a month and haven't said a word to each other. Weird, huh? Anyway, just say whatever you feel. I'll tell you know how it makes me feel. Promise. M

P.S. You and Brit are the least stupid people I know. I don't know if you noticed the headband I wore the other day, I'll wear it at practice today, anyway, it cost Brit $5 to make and girls pay her $50 for it. That's smart. You came up with a plan to make money for Nationals last year, that was smart. Those are the kinds of smarts that do you better in the real world than reeling off the names of Civil War generals. Good at academics and smart are two different things.

M, I saw the headband. Awesome. I must not have really looked at you for a very long time. You're dressing differently, aren't you? Or did you loose weight? I guess girls don't like to hear that question. You looked beautiful today, or did you always and I just stopped noticing? S

P.S. Please tell me you're not sick or something.

S, if you had to eat Blaine's cooking you'd lose weight too. Haha! Joking 'cause he's a good cook, kinda-sorta vegetarian. That camp I went to last summer broke me of my tater tot addiction and taught me how people are supposed to eat – guess what? Fruits and vegetables - who knew? I had some tater tots the other day and can't believe I used to love those. Also I walk Puppy a lot so there's that. M

P.S. Thanks for the compliment. You're pretty cute yourself.

M, Sorry for grabbing you the other day when they announced we won our Section. Got carried away. S

S, Sorry for grabbing you back. If you want me to be. M

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	7. Chapter 7 Bewitched Bothered Bewildered

Sam and Mercedes sat next to each other in uncomfortable silence. They both desperately wanted a piece of paper. They could say anything on paper, talking in real time was terrifying. Fortunately they didn't have to do much talking right now.

Kurt was ecstatic that Mr. Schuester had finally, finally! assigned Kurt and Blaine to a duet. It was just an in-class exercise but it was the first time they'd be singing together for New Directions. Kurt was nervous and excited and Mercedes couldn't see why. They were born to sing _I'll Cover You_ from _Rent_. It was perfect, if predictable, as Kurt pointed out. _ Someday My Prince will Come_ was Blaine's choice. "Sitting right here, babe." Kurt said.

What was she going to sing with Sam, that's the problem. "So what are you going to sing with Sam?" Blaine asked.

"_My Eyes_ from Dr. Horrible?" Sam suggested.

"Let me hear it." Kurt said. He listened and said "So Sam's singing that the world is full of filth and lies and Mercedes is singing the world is finally growing wise. Interesting."

_"Love Needs a Heart_" by Jackson Browne?" Mercedes suggested. "Proud and alone, cold as a stone. I'm afraid to believe the things I feel. I can cry with the best, I can laugh with the rest. But I'm never sure when it's real." she sang. Sam stared at her.

"_Hallelujah_? When you said you were going to sing Leonard Cohen I wondered if you were going with KD Lang or Jeff Buckley." Sam said.

"I didn't say I was going to sing _Hallelujah_," she answered. "_Bird on a Wire_."

_Bird on a Wire? _ Sam thought. Torn everyone who's reached out to me? She must be really hurting_._

"Not_ Bird on a Wire_ but _Hallelujah_ is good." Blaine was saying "Don't you have anything in your notebook?" Sam and Mercedes exchanged guilty glances, like they'd been caught up to no good.

"What notebook?" Kurt asked.

"It's just a notebook." Mercedes said. Thanks a lot blabbermouth she thought.

"I'm sorry, I'm confusing you guys with a book I just read. Remember, I showed it to you Kurt? It was a mystery and you don't like mysteries so maybe you don't remember. And you've seen my notebook, it's mostly lyrics."

"How about_ Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered_? It's Rogers and Hart, I think." Mercedes said, trying to add another layer of distraction. Her mother was listening to Ella Fitzgerald sing that when she came home from school today. "Do you know it?"

"Couldn't sleep, and wouldn't sleep, until I could sleep where I shouldn't sleep, bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I." Kurt sang. "Pal Joey. I like that."

Mercedes didn't remember the lyrics going like that but at least she'd succeeded in distracting Kurt.

Sam looked around Mercedes' dining room. The room was warm and comfortable, just like her whole family. It had been several months since he'd been here last, back when they were friends, and then more than friends. Now they're pen pals, kinda. It was crazy but he could get used to that kind of crazy. Things were good until they'd been assigned to do a duet. He'd gotten used to writing to her, not talking to her.

Did Blaine know what was written in that notebook? It sounded like he didn't, not for sure. Sam noticed how he quickly he came up with "a book I'm reading" once he realized Kurt hadn't noticed them passing it back and forth. Kurt, on the other hand, seemed to have completely forgotten the subject and gone back to agonizing over his duet with Blaine.

"Can I have a drink of water?" Sam asked.

"Sure. Wait a minute, we just rearranged some things. Let me show you." Sam and Mercedes walked into the kitchen.

"Has Blaine seen what's in the book?"

"No. His mother came down last week and took us all out to dinner. I was writing in the car and he noticed and asked what it was. Then he asked why I write to you instead of talking to you. Reasonable question."

"What did you say?"

"I said it's easier that way. You know, Blaine would make one hell of a spy. He says he collects stories because he wants to be a writer but there's something about him that makes you run off at the mouth. I think it's the way he looks at you like whatever you're saying is the most interesting thing he's ever heard in his life. With you it's that country boy charm that makes people tell you things, like you're just sitting on the back porch drinking lemon aid." He laughed.

"You guys okay in there?" Blaine called from the dining room. "Having any trouble finding a glass?"

"No prob. You want anything?" she called back.

"No, we're good."

"See" she said to Sam. "He lives here. He knows we didn't rearrange anything." She grabbed two glasses and filled them with water. "I think he finds the idea behind the notebook more interesting than the actual contents. That's just how he is." Their hands touched briefly when she handed him the glass. They both jumped like they'd been shocked.

"Well, umm, what do you want to do, about the duet?" he asked, heading back into the dining room. He was surprised to turn around and see Mercedes still standing at the kitchen sink.

"What are we going to do about us? This is insane, you know. I miss you so much, but when we were together, at the end, I felt so...I don't know."

"Used." he stood next to her. "I used you and you let me because you cared about me. And you were afraid, I think, that nobody was ever going to love you and you had to settle. You're wrong about that. And I was afraid too. I didn't know what was going to happen with my family. There's no privacy when you're crammed together like that. I used to pretend to be asleep while they worried if they should send Stevie and Stacey to live in Memphis with grandma. If I should go live with my father, Bob's my stepfather you know. So I controlled the only thing I could. You. I can never fix that. I'm sorry, but I can't erase it and I can't expect you to forget what happened."

He sat down at the kitchen table. She sat down next to him. "We used to talk about anything and laugh about everything. But things went too far and somehow I turned into the jock who has to be careful who he's seen with. And you turned into the secret girlfriend who's sad all the time." He took her hand. "If it's possible, can we take what happened, and put it on a shelf? And later, maybe, we can open that box again? And until we're both ready can you be the beautiful girlfriend who laughs all the time and I'll be the poor boyfriend takes you to the park?"

"How about if you're the boyfriend, Sam from Memphis, and I'm the girlfriend, Mercedes from Lima?" Then she kissed him.

* * *

><p>Kurt and Blaine were kissing across the dining room table and looked up, surprised, when they walked in holding hands.<p>

"I live here, remember?" Mercedes said laughing. Kurt noticed it wasn't that fake laugh she'd been using lately.

"We're taking your suggestion. Just celebrating." Kurt said. "Now we can focus on your problem."

"How about Robert Palmer?" Blaine said "She used to look good to me but now I find her simply irresistible?"

Sam blushed. "Do you have one about a roommate getting murdered?"

"Aren't people forever getting murdered in old country music songs?" Kurt asked. "Oh, there's a murder in Sunset Boulevard!"

"Remember, that's the movie that opens with the guy face down in the swimming pool?" She reminded Sam. "All because he was playing mind games with a batty old lady. That guy was a writer, if I recall correctly. A writer who gets in trouble for messing with folks. Now there's an interesting concept."

"Okay, I'll stop. You're on your own." Blaine stood up. "Kurt, lets go to my room and practice."

"Practice, that's what they call it." Mercedes said to Sam.

* * *

><p>Blaine's sudden appearance had swelled the ranks of female members of New Directions. They hadn't shown much interest in singing, just in staring at Blaine and daydreaming. His rendition of "Part of Your World" - including his refusal to neutralize the gender references by changing "reprimand their daughters" to "scold their sons and daughters" tamped down those fantasies a bit. Kurt and Blaine's rendition of "Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered" was the final proof, if any was needed, that Blaine was definitely gay. She listened to them singing.<p>

I'll sing to him, bring spring to him

And worship the trousers that cling to him

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I

When he talks he is seeking

Words to get off his chest.

Horizontally speaking he's at his very best.

Vexed again

Perplexed again

Thank God I can be over-sexed again

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I

Well, Mercedes thought, that ought cut down the female competition for solos. She was sitting next to Sam, holding his hand. Funny how such a little thing made her so happy. He was grinning at Kurt and Blaine - "So NOT Ella."

"There's a hundred verses to that song and they specifically picked those." She whispered. "They decided to go with Rufus Wainwright, Rod Stewart, Cher and Patti LuPone boozing it up at 3 in the morning down at the No Tell Motel."

"_2947886_ - Page 8 of 8 - Word Count: 1853


	8. Chapter 8 All I Do Is Think About You

"Damn it, Sam, get out of my way." Santana snarled. She shoved him aside and looked at what had stopped Sam in his tracks. Mercedes in a dress. "Haven't you ever seen a girl in a dress before? Don't they have those where you come from? Mercedes, who's dressing you these days? Tell them to call me."

"It takes a lot of work to dress me." she laughed. "Tina, Brittany, Sara and Ali."

Santana glared at Ali, the black girl who played lead guitar in from the band. Ali glared back and made a point of winking at Brittany. Brittany smiled brightly and waved back. Actually Ali's contribution was to say "Looks okay" after the Glee girls and Sara, the keyboardist in the band, had finished. Mercedes only mentioned Ali to see Santana's reaction.

Yes, Sam had seen Mercedes in a dress before. The girls in New Directions wore dresses at competitions. She wore a dress at the prom, though he was mostly interested in her and couldn't remember what her dress looked like, though he was pretty sure she wore a dress. He didn't know what this style was called, he'd call it exotic. It was a beautiful shade of blue, the color of the sky right after the sunsets but before it gets dark. It was sparkly and festive without being overdone.

"Where did you get that?" Kurt and Rachel asked at the same time.

"Tina made it. This was an old sari Devi was throwing out. You remember Marcus' wife, Devi? Tina saw it in my room and came up with this. Now Tina wants me to see how many saris Devi can get from her family in India."

"I should get upset about all the fashion advice you've ignored from me, but I can't because you look so good." Kurt circled her slowly. "Excellent. I wouldn't change a thing."

Sam kissed her. "You got all dressed up just to sing with me?"

"Yes I did. Plus, Jesse St. Jerk called me lazy. I think he meant I should dress up for performances, or at least that's how I intend to take it. You're looking extra cute. Haircut?"

He grinned. "Gotta look good when I'm out with you." He took her hand and they walked over to their seats.

The Queen was back and Rachel was not at all happy about it. Whatever she had been going through, and Mercedes had obviously been going through something, she'd made it to the other side. Now she was standing there singing with Sam, looking like a million bucks and sounding like the R&B diva she was, tearing her way through Stevie Wonder's _All I Do Is Think About You_.

You made my soul a burning fire,  
>you're getting to be my one desire,<br>you're getting to be all that matters to me  
>and let me tell you girl<p>

I hope and pray each day I live,  
>a little more love I'll have to give,<br>a little more love that's devoted and true  
>'cause all I do is think about you.<p>

And maybe just suppose I should happen to cross your mind,  
>and by some chance a girl like me you've really been trying to find<br>Well let me tell you boy, think how it exciting it would be,  
>if you should discover you feel like me,<br>if you should discover this dream is for two  
>Well I'm gonna tell you boy I'd light a candle every day<br>and pray that you'll always feel this way  
>and pray that our love will for ever be new<br>'cause all I do is think about you,

Rachel had been concerned for her friend, really she had been, but as long as Mercedes insisted there was nothing wrong Rachel had to take her word for it. And as long as she insisted on singing Steely Dan and whatever that guitar stuff was, Rachel didn't have to worry about solo competition from that front. Rachel had been hopeful when Mercedes and Sam leaped from their seats and handed the sheet music to the band. Those guitarists beamed, the way they always did when Mercedes gave them a golden ticket to Steely Dan Land.

And speaking of those guitarists – Rachel couldn't tell who Mercedes was flirting with, the girl or the guy, whatever their names are. And what was the deal with Sam, singing sappy love songs to Mercedes out of nowhere? Mercedes wasn't exactly his type, but come to think of it, what was Sam's type? Quinn's a cold-hearted bitch and Santana's a hot-tempered bitch. So it would seem bitch is Sam's type, which Mercedes is not. Now Sam's up there going all blue-eyed soul, and doing a decent job of it. What exactly was going on there and how did it get past her? And how did it get past Kurt? And speaking of Kurt, he should be showing some sympathy for her plight, not telling her to be happy for Mercedes and staring at Blaine. And speaking of Blaine, what a disappointment! He lives in the same house as Mercedes and had no useful information. "Ask her yourself" was all he'd say.

Well, Blaine wasn't a total disappointment. Honestly, he was the best male singer they had and she was tired of carrying Finn. And Rachel was glad he could keep a secret, what with all the stuff she'd let slip in front of him. On the other hand, he certainly did monopolize Kurt's time. On the other other hand, Blaine hated shopping so they still had the mall. And Broadway. But on still another hand, why is Kurt giving Mercedes and Sam a standing ovation and saying "Welcome back"? That traitor!

FF_2947886_ - Page 4 of 4 - Word Count: 981


	9. Chapter 9 Cast Your Fate to the Wind

Blaine noticed that good news never comes in the middle of the night. It's never the judges from the Pulitzer Prize Committee knocking on your bedroom door. It was the middle of the night when that dorm monitor decided to do a room check and discovered Kurt in his room. It was the middle of the night when that fight with his father over a one-week suspension, not an expulsion as rumor had it, ended with his father announcing that if Blaine wanted to go back to Dalton he'd have to find money to pay for it.

Blaine's mother didn't have Dalton's kind of money. She could probably sue his father for the money but the school year would be over by the time that was worked out. He could have gone to Toledo to live with her, but he'd chosen to go to Lima to be with Kurt. He loved Kurt, he was convinced of that, and that was something they'd laugh about with the grandkids. Or maybe it would be a cautionary tale warning against impulsive behavior. Either way there definitely would be grandkids involved.

Luckily Mercedes' family had taken him in, but now her brother Marcus and his very pregnant wife Devi, who live 90 minutes away, had shown up in the middle of the night. This can't possible be good news he thought, getting dressed. And it wasn't. Thanks to a drunk driver Mercedes and Marcus were now orphans.

* * *

><p>The house was hot, stuffy and full of people who had stopped by after the funeral. No wonder Mercedes had disappeared. Kurt was helping Tina, Sam and Sam's mother coordinate the food people had brought over when he looked out the back window and saw her sitting on the steps. He grabbed a blanket from the laundry room and went out.<p>

"Hi." he said, sitting next to her and wrapping the blanket around both of them, like they used to do when they were kids. "You'll catch cold out here."

She made no effort to stand up, just moved closer to Kurt. "Does this ever get any better?"

"Not really. You just learn to live with it. And I still have my dad, you lost both your parents." He put his arm around her. "You know something? Your mom was the first person to tell me I was okay."

She felt like she should turn and look at him but she was comfortable the way she was, with her head leaning against his chest, smelling his cologne. "What do you mean?"

"Remember that church you used to go to? Not the one you go to now, but the other one? About five years ago? The minister there said I was going to hell."

"He called you out by name?"

"No. He said gay people were going to hell. I had just realized gay was what I was. Your mom told me God doesn't make mistakes and He made me the perfect Kurt. I didn't think anybody but my dad, and you, thought that I was perfect."

"I remember that, only different. You were crying, right there in church, and I thought you were crying about your mother. My mom hugged you and I held your hand. I don't remember that sermon, they were big on who's going to hell and why they deserved eternal damnation at that church. We never went back. I asked my mom why and she said the minister was wrong. That's why I remember, because before that I didn't know a minister could be wrong. She said the same thing, God doesn't make mistakes. I didn't know she was talking about you." Mercedes thought for a few minutes.

"Later, after that windshield thing, I asked her why you couldn't just be straight and save everybody a lot of aggravation. And she said it again, God doesn't make mistakes. She said you trying to be straight would be like me trying to be white. Never gonna happen."

"I guess I'm not the only one who loved your folks. There are a lot people in there."

"They touched a lot of people. I know you're not big on religion but did you listen to what Marcus read from the Bible? That verse from Matthew about how we should take care of one another? If that's what we're judged on, how we treated 'the least of my brothers and sisters', then they're okay now."

"If there's a place for decent, kind, caring people they're definitely there."

She sighed. "I wonder which is better at a time like this, to be around a lot of people or to be alone?"

"Neither. Both. It's probably best to be like Finn and to have never known it any differently. Or maybe that's worse, when you don't have any memory of them at all. I don't know." He hugged her tighter. "Are you moving to Columbus to live with your brother?"

"No, I'm finishing the school year here. I guess it's a good thing Blaine's here, otherwise Marcus would make me move down there. My brother wouldn't want me living alone." She sighed again. "I guess I'll go to Ohio State, close to Marcus and Devi. If money is tight I can commute, assuming I can afford the tuition."

"Well, you can always come live with me."

"Your house is pretty full, but thanks anyway. I don't think living here to finish the school year is the problem. I just don't know about affording college. I guess it'll work out, one way or the other."

Even with the blanket, Kurt was starting to feel the cold, and Mercedes had been out here longer than he had. "Do you remember that piano piece your parents loved? You used to play it all the time, back when you were too shy to sing in public? Do you still know it?"

"_Cast Your Fate to the Wind_. I still play it for them a couple of times a year. Birthdays, anniversaries."

"Why don't we go in, warm up, and you can play it for them now?"

"Okay. Let's head in, it's cold out here."

Quinn was standing in the doorway, holding a cup of coffee in each hand for them, when they came in. "You guys must be freezing. Mercedes, you brother wants to borrow your camera. He said all the kids that used to live here are here now and he wants to take a picture. He said there's nine of us all together, six of his friends and three of yours." She folded the blanket carefully and put it back in the laundry room. "Do you want me to get it?"

"Thanks, but I can find it faster." Mercedes said stamping her feet, which were numb from the cold. "Thank you, Kurt."

"Call me anytime you want to talk." he said, hugging her.

"Do you mind if I go with you?" Quinn asked.

"Not at all." Mercedes hadn't talked to Quinn since she lived there during her pregnancy. For a long time it had bothered her the way Quinn left like a thief in the night while Mercedes was out of town that summer and the way Quinn looked past her in the hallway in school. Quinn had hugged her at the funeral and said how sorry she was for her loss, but that's what people are supposed to say at funerals. Mercedes was a little surprised to see her after the funeral. Most of the people here were family, people from church and close friends like Sam's and Kurt's families.

"Got it!" Mercedes said holding up the camera. Quinn was sitting on the edge of her bed, she obviously had something on her mind.

"I just wanted to say" she started "that your parents were better to me when I needed it than my own parents were."

"Thank you. That's how they were, always trying to help. They were on their way home from Peru, when...when it happened. Lima Helping Lima the program was called."

"Oh. I also want to say I'm sorry for not being a better, hell let's face it, for not being any kind of a friend to you. I couldn't look at you without seeing Beth and I was trying to put that part of my life in the past."

"Okay." Mercedes wasn't sure if that was an apology or just a statement of truth. The fact was she didn't care anymore.

"Shelby, the woman who adopted Beth, said I could know about her life if I wanted to. I never wanted to until this week." She handed Mercedes a photograph of a smiling brown-haired baby. "This is Beth."

"She's beautiful. She's got your eyes. Did you show Puck?"

"He wouldn't care. If he wanted a picture he could ask for one. You can have that."

"Thank you." Mercedes looked around her room and saw what she was looking for. "Remember that pillow fight when we were in New York for Nationals? I took this then. Everybody who's seen it likes it, I was planning to use it for my art school portfolio." It was a photograph taken that night, Quinn in a blizzard of feathers, smiling a genuine smile, not her usual guarded expression. Even people who didn't like Quinn liked that picture.

"You can have it, I'm not sure I'm going to art school anymore."

Quinn stared at the picture like the girl in the photograph was a stranger. "Thank you." she said finally.

* * *

><p>Note: the Bible reference is Matthew 25:31-46 aka The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats<p>

"Cast Your Fate to the Wind" is a jazz piano piece by Vince Guaraldi Trio (original) covered by David Benoit

FF_2947886_ - Page 6 of 6 - Word Count: 1648


	10. Chapter 10 Walking in Memphis

"Are you working next weekend?" Mercedes asked fiddling with her coffee cup. "Reason I'm asking is I have to go out of town. My parents..." she hesitated for a minute and continued "were supposed to go to a conference, a dentist thing. And now they, the dentists, want to present an award in their memory. And Marcus and Devi were going to go but they can't because Devi's due any day now. And it won't cost anything because every thing's paid for. You wanna go?" She looked at Sam hopefully.

"Well, if you don't go I will." Kurt said when Sam hesitated.

"Sure, I can take next weekend off. Where are we going?" Sam answered.

"Graceland! Ever hear of it?" she asked smiling.

Mercedes was kidding about visiting Graceland but knew that Memphis was Sam's home town. They had a lot of fun on their last trip together, New York for Nationals. New York was where Mercedes first starting thinking of Sam as more than just somebody who was fun to hang out with. She'd been to a few conferences with her parents, maybe they're fun if you're a dentist, but usually Mercedes and her mom saw the sights of whatever town they were in and showed up in time for dinner. Sam would make this bearable.

It had been a month since her parents died. Mercedes believed in God, she believed in heaven, and she believed her parents had earned a place there. She missed them terribly but she wasn't depressed. Ms. Pillsbury didn't believe her but Mercedes thought Ms. Pillsbury was more in need of help than she was. Maybe it would be different if she lived alone, or was starting over in Columbus, but Mercedes wasn't alone. Blaine was living at her house and Tina and Kurt came over a lot. Of course Kurt was mostly coming over to see Blaine but they didn't spend all their time in Blaine's room anymore. If it wasn't for Blaine she'd be living in Columbus with Marcus and Devi right now.

And then there was Sam. Sam made her ridiculously crazily happy. Maybe she'd be depressed if it wasn't for Sam. Well, Sam and money. It turned out that Mercedes and her brother Marcus were rich. Evidently they had been rich for a long time and never knew it. She laughed thinking about how her dad made he save up for that camera when he could have easily brought her an even better one. Her father's financial training was sticking, knowing she was rich hadn't changed her spending habits much. She didn't run out and buy a Porsche but she was seriously considering adding a bathroom to her attic bedroom. She could just move into her parent's bedroom, which already had a bathroom, but not just yet.

She was nervous about asking Sam to go with her because she wasn't sure how he'd take it. They'd be sharing a room, a room with two beds, but one room. Would he interpret that as an invitation for something more? Should she have invited Tina instead? Well, too late for that, she couldn't dis-invite him now. She'd only asked him because Memphis was his home town, right? He could show her whatever people saw in Memphis. She'd have to make sure he understood that.

* * *

><p>"So there's a dinner and a dance on Saturday night. What you wore to the prom would be all right." Mercedes said.<p>

"Is something wrong?" Sam asked. "You seem kinda anxious." They were at the park, sitting on a bench watching Stacey and Stevie run around the playground.

"No. Well, I just wanted to make sure you knew there's gonna be two beds. I didn't plan this whole thing just to seduce you or something." she laughed nervously.

He glanced over at her, smiled, and looked back at the kids. He picked up her hand. "Okay. That's it?"

"I think so. I just wanted to be clear."

"I told you before, no pressure. I meant it. I'll be a perfect gentleman. I promise." he pulled her close and kissed her.

"Mercy and Sammy, sitting in a tree. K I S S I N G." It was Stacey standing next to them.

"Come on kids, time for bed." Sam said, standing up.

* * *

><p>It was late when they finally got to the hotel on Friday night. Mercedes immediately went to the window to check the view.<p>

"Well, this is a problem." she heard Sam say.

"What?"

"One bed. It's a big bed, but just one."

Awkward, she thought.

"It's okay, there's a sofa. I can sleep there."

This was a horrifically bad idea, Mercedes thought. What was she thinking, asking him to spend the weekend with her? Sam was standing next to her, looking at the Memphis skyline.

"Isn't is beautiful? Course I didn't live downtown, I lived in the 'burbs. No offense to Lima but this is a city!" He put his arm around her waist. "So how do dentist conventions work?"

She leaned against him. "Well, I figure we can get a free breakfast here, then you show me the sights and we get back in time for dinner and speeches. Six or so."

"Did you really want to see Graceland?"

"Elvis? I can take him or leave him. It's your town, surprise me."

"You remember my friend Zach I told you about? I thought we might have lunch with him. Can I borrow your laptop? I need to send him an email."

Sam was chatting on-line with Zach when Mercedes came out of the shower ready for bed. If she intended to seduce him she hadn't dressed for the occasion. She was wearing an oversize Ohio State t-shirt and gym shorts.

"All done?" she asked.

"In a minute." He hit send and looked over at her. She was standing by the window, staring out the window again. Sam wasn't sure what Mercedes wanted, or didn't want, him to do right now. He decided to take a shower while she figured it out. When he came out she was still standing by the window.

He walked over and kissed her. "You gonna stand here all night?"

"Sam..."

"Shhhh. Remember I told you about that time the band kids showed up at the pizza place right before closing?"

She nodded.

"And they were all paired up except for Ali because Ben was back? I'm assuming you know Ben and Tim are gay, though neither one of them is Kurt's kind of gay." She sat down on the edge of the bed. She knew that. Where was he going with this story?

"Well, Ali got bored and started talking to me. I didn't understand half of what she said, she was rambling on about guitarists, I guess they were guitarists, that I never heard of."

Mercedes laughed. "Ali said the same thing about you. She asked me how I managed to spend so much time with you, what with you barely speaking English and all."

Sam sat down and put his arm around her. "Well, the one thing she said that made sense was this. When they look at a piece of music the first thing they decide is who's driving. You're driving, Mercedes." He kissed her passionately. Then he stood up and went over to the sofa.

* * *

><p>When he woke up Mercedes was sitting on the edge of the sofa looking out the window. What time was it? Early, he could tell that much.<p>

"Good morning."

"Good morning. What are you doing?"

"Look. We've watched the sun set lots of times but we've never seen the sun rise. Well, there it is."

He sat up. "It's beautiful. You're beautiful." He pulled her down on the sofa.

"Not yet." she said slipping out of his grasp.

"Okay." he said switching gears. "I've got a surprise for you. Put on your walking shoes."

Later that morning Sam showed Mercedes his surprise – The Memphis Rock 'n Soul Museum. Al Green instead of Elvis Presley? Hell to the yes! She was engrossed in an display about Stax Records, aka Soulsville USA, when a tour guide walked up to her.

"Is this guy bothering you?" She looked up to see a tall, muscular black boy looking at her and motioning to Sam. "We get guys like that in here all the time, trolling for girls."

"No, I don't need your help." she said sharply. "That's my boyfriend."

"Sister, you can do way better than that." Sam looked up.

"Sammy!" the boy said laughing. He hugged him so hard Sam was almost lifted from the ground. "What the hell happened to your hair?"

"Zach! Back away from my girl. You switched sides, remember?"

"Hell, I can still appreciate a pretty woman. What do the boys up there look like?"

"I wouldn't know about that."

"Yeah, right!" he laughed. "Give me 5 minutes and I can take a lunch break."

"Why does he call you Sammy?" Actually that easiest question she had for him. Like, why hadn't Sam mentioned Zach was black, and gay, and what did "Yeah, right" mean?

"There were about 20 Sams in our class. I was Sam E, Sammy."

"Makes sense. What's your real hair color?"

"Plain old brown. Next question."

"Why did he say "yeah right" about cute guys in Ohio?"

"It's a joke. I'll tell you about it later." He looked at her surprised expression and added "There's no deep dark secret, I just don't want to go into it right here. At lunch. Promise."

* * *

><p>Lunch was boring the way listening to two old friends, or a new couple, is to an outsider. Mercedes thought about what Sam had previously said about Zach. They had been best friends, super close. They'd started fighting the minute Sam announced he was leaving Memphis. They made up the day Sam left. They kept in touch via email. Sam had said Zach was the reason why he understood the lovehate (as Sam put it) relationship Mercedes had with Kurt. Sam and his former best friend were hundreds of miles apart. Mercedes had to sit in practice with her former best friend and his new best friend, Rachel. Hell, Kurt was probably making out with Blaine in her living room right now.

"Sam said you're the best singer in the world."

"My teacher doesn't even think I'm the best singer in Ohio."

"You know he's a fool." Sam said.

"Well, Ms. Songbird, thanks for bringing Sammy back home. I gotta get back to work." Zach hugged both of them and left.

Sam was grinning as his friend walked away.

"He seems nice."

"Weird seeing him after all this time."

"Too bad we don't have much time. Otherwise we could breeze by your old high school."

"There's not much there I want to see."

"Would that have anything to do with 'cute guys in Ohio'?" she asked.

"Not at all. What Zach's talking about is there was a time we both thought we might be gay. We kissed a couple of times. Turns out he's gay and I'm not. I guess that's why my initial reaction to Kurt surprised Finn so much. To me Kurt's just a guy, just kinda temperamental."

"You know, most guys would be ashamed to admit kissing another guy."

"Most guys are asses. You should hear the crap they say. Asses. 'Course some girls are asses. Not you though. That's why I love you."

"What did you just say?"

"Most guys are asses?"

"No, the other thing you just said."

"That's why I love you? I've said that before, haven't I?" he asked smiling.

"No, never."

"Oh, I guess I just thought it."

"I love you, too."

"I knew that already, but thanks for saying it out loud."

FF_2947886_ - Page 8 of 8 - Word Count: 2054


	11. Chapter 11 Love and Happiness

Dinner was at six, 10 minutes from now. Sam was sitting on the bed, waiting for Mercedes to finish getting ready.

"You ready yet?" he called for the third time.

"Ta Da!" she announced stepping out of the bathroom. She was wearing her hair up, like Sam liked it and the dress was emerald green and he liked her in that color. Hell, lately there wasn't much he didn't like about her.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?" she asked putting on earrings.

"Every time I see you you look more beautiful than the last time. How do you do that?"

She laughed. "Thank you. You look good too. We'll be the cutest couple there, definitely the youngest."

After dinner and the presentations there was dancing. It was late and they were both tired and finally leaving when the band played _You Don't Know Me_. They'd sung that together at the junior prom last year.

"One last dance?" Sam asked.

"Sure." The last time they'd danced had been at the prom. He held her close and softly sang along with the band. It was a perfect night.

* * *

><p>It was dawn when Mercedes woke up. They had collapsed in bed fully dressed and her arm was numb from Sam laying on it all night. When Sam woke up he was alone. He could her Mercedes singing in the shower. He was looking for something to wear today when Mercedes came out of the bathroom. He was hoping she'd be naked but she was dressed.<p>

"I'll be right back." She kissed him before she left the room.

When Sam got out of the shower she was sitting on the bed with a cup of coffee. There was coffee, orange juice, danish and yogurt on a tray by the window.

"So, what did you plan for today?"

"I wanted to have lunch with my grandma."

"Okay, what did you want to do until then?" she smiled at him, a wicked smile.

"Well, I don't know." He sat next to her. "What do you want to do?"

"Wanna dance?" she asked.

"Dance?" He must have misinterpreted that smile. "Okay, let's dance."

"Is Al Green okay?"

Al Green? Hell to the yes! Sam thought to himself. There was a display about him at that museum yesterday. His music was wildly sexy, at least up to the point where he got shot and then found religion. He bet she wasn't going to play the gospel part of his career. Mercedes picked the song she wanted to dance to.

Love and happiness  
>You be good to me<br>I'll be good to you  
>we'll be together<br>we'll see each other  
>walk away with victory<br>oh baby,  
>love and happiness...<br>love and happiness...

Dancing with her last night had been mighty fine, today was better than fine. He could tell she was nervous. He was whispering in her ear. "I love you. Are you sure? We can stop anytime." He kept saying that over and over.

"Sam, I'm sure. I love you. This is right. Before, it was all wrong. It was sneaking around in parking lots. This is right."

He undressed her slowly, like he was unwrapping a valuable present. Then he just sat there, looking at her. She reached for a blanket but he stopped her. "No, don't. I just want to remember this picture forever." Then he undressed quickly.

The first girl Sam had ever had sex with was his girlfriend from Memphis, Samantha Bowden, aka Sam B. Their friends called them "the Sams". Neither one of them knew what they were doing but quickly figured it out. The second girl was Quinn. Looking back on it Quinn was probably feeling guilty about cheating on him with Finn. Quinn was as cold in bed as she was out of it.

Santana was a different case entirely. The first time with her had been an audition, though he didn't know it at the time. Once Santana had decided he had potential she set about training him how to please a woman, that's how she put it. She'd do anything he wanted, and she more imagination than him, as long as Sam did what she wanted first. Santana taught him a lot. A lot. If he'd been in love with her he would have felt bad wondering how she learned what she knew, but he hadn't been in love with Santana.

Sam hadn't been in love when he'd started making out with Mercedes. He liked her but he wasn't in love with her. He wanted what he had with Santana, sex with no strings, but Mercedes wasn't that kind of girl, even if she was trying to be. It wasn't until much later that he realized that he loved her and wanted her to be happy. Thanks to Santana he definitely knew how to make a woman happy.

* * *

><p>Mercedes was exhausted. That Ke$ha song, <em>Your Love is my Drug<em> finally made sense. She was addicted, and Sam hadn't even asked her for anything yet.

"Don't you want me to do anything?"

"Sure I do, but I wasn't expecting this. I didn't bring anything."

"Like this?" she held up a small square package. He looked surprised. "It's not like I go around carrying condoms in my purse. Tina gave them to me. "Better safe than Fabray" she said laughing.

* * *

><p>It was late in the morning when they work up again. Sam rolled over and looked at the clock. "Shit, it's 11:30! We gotta get dressed." He jumped out of bed.<p>

"Why?" She grabbed at him and missed.

"Grandma. Remember? Lunch?"

"Damn, I forgot. What time?"

"Twelve. It's not far but we gotta leave five minutes ago. I don't want to have to explain to my grandma exactly why we're late."

FF_2947886_ - Page 4 of 4 - Word Count: 1018


	12. Chapter 12 Wurlitzer Prize

Somebody was in the bathroom, Mercedes was sure of it. She was supposed to be home alone. The only other person who lived here was Blaine, and he was off male-bonding at the NASCAR races with Burt, Kurt and Finn. Sam had a key but he wouldn't just walk in a make himself at home. He'd call. She listened at the door. A burglar wouldn't break in just to throw up. She knocked.

"Blaine?" she was answered by groaning.

"Are you okay?" More groaning and retching.

"I'm coming in, okay?"

It was Blaine and he was definitely sick. He was sitting on the edge of the bathtub, aiming at the toilet and missing badly. She found a clean washcloth, ran water over it and wiped his face. Then she handed his a plastic wastebasket, "Aim for this." She handed him another wet washcloth and looked around the bathroom. On second thought this wouldn't be so hard to clean, she'd seen worse. She looked at Blaine. He needed a new shirt. "I'll be right back."

Although he had lived there for several months now, Mercedes had never been in Blaine's room. She had no reason to. If he wanted to talk to her they talked downstairs. Actually, they didn't have much to talk about besides Glee club. The only other thing was English, Blaine was a great writer and an excellent editor. Mercedes was a decent writer in her own right. They edited each other's papers and Mercedes saw the difference in her grades. Unfortunately she didn't have time to look around his room now. She looked in the closet and grabbed the first shirt she saw.

She went back to see how Blaine was doing. "Can you stand up?" He nodded.

"Good. Let me help you change your shirt."

She had never seen him get his shirt off, he was more muscular than she had guessed. Throwing the dirty shirt on the floor, she helped him with the clean one. He seemed steady enough and had stopped throwing up. "How do you feel?"

"Better, thanks. Tired."

"Good. You're going to bed, okay? Hold on to this." She handed his the wastebasket. "Then I'll go make you some tea, okay?"

"Okay."

This is the flu, Mercedes thought as she put on a kettle of water. There was an epidemic going on at school and maybe public school had more germs private school. She was surprised Kurt just left Blaine here. Maybe he wasn't that sick when Kurt left. What would her mom do next? Tea, crackers, magazines? What did he read? She'd have to look around his room. Movies? Did he have a TV in his room? She had to check to see if he had a fever. What else?

* * *

><p>"Hey." he sat up.<p>

"Hey. Here's some tea. You don't want to get dehydrated. Feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you."

"It's okay." she said leaving.

"Wait a minute!"

"What? Do you need something?"

"Where are you going?"

"To clean up the bathroom."

"Oh, thanks for doing that. Can you come back when you're finished?"

"Okay." So Blaine was one of those kind of sick people, the kind you had to baby. This was going to be a long day.

And it was. He kept falling asleep and then texting her when he woke up if she had slipped out of the room. Therefore, she had plenty of time to look around his room, you'd barely know a teen-aged boy lived here, maybe because the arrangement was temporary. As for teen-aged boy's rooms she'd only seen three – Marcus' room had been decorated with rap posters, Sam didn't really have a room and Kurt's room was kinda girly. Blaine had a lot of books, that's for sure. There were a few photos on his desk. Kurt. His mother. Two little boys who she assumed were his stepbrothers. A snapshot of his friends from Dalton she guessed based on the uniform. She was looking at the pictures when he woke up again.

"I'm feeling a lot better now. Whatever that was it was fast. Thank you for taking care of me."

"You're welcome. Want to try to eat something?"

"Maybe later. My mom always started with toast."

"Okay. Can I ask you something? Did you always go to Dalton? I mean did you go there from kindergarten?"

"No."

"Where did you go before that?"

"I was home-schooled for a while."

"Really? Why? I mean was it some religious or political thing? At my old church it was mostly a religion thing, keeping their kids away from the wicked world. At my new church it more a social justice type thing, going on mission trips and stuff like that. My folks pulled me out and home-schooled me for four months in India. Marcus was already in college then. My dad was doing volunteer work and my mom figured I would learn more there than I would have here. Or maybe the schools were you lived were that bad?"

She thought he'd fallen asleep, he waited so long to answer. "No, it was more like a safety thing. They didn't like gay kids back there."

"I don't know that McKinley is exactly gay-friendly. They used to give Kurt hell 24-7, though it does seem better now."

He smiled when she mentioned Kurt. "Can I ask you another question?" She sat cross-legged on his bed. "What did you think the first time you met Kurt?"

"Vulnerable. That's the word. He seemed so sad and broken. And vulnerable. I worried about him. I was afraid he'd be easy prey to a sleaze-bag who acted nice to him. He reminded me of myself when I first came out, though I understand he'd been out for a while by then."

"I guess it was Dave that upset him so much. He was pretty much used to the rest of it."

"Probably. My turn. What did you think when you first saw Sam?"

"You ever been to Abercombie's? Okay, he looked like he'd just stepped out of a poster. And I wondered who he'd choose. I guessed it would be Brittany, she's the nicest. Brittany and Tina, and Tina was with Mike at the time. I was surprised it was Quinn."

"You didn't think it would be you?"

"Oh no, not me!" she laughed. "Boys like that don't go for girls like me. Nobody would pick-" she paused. "Anyway, he picked Quinn. You saw them at the competition. You gotta admit they're damned cute together. My turn. Kurt said right before you kissed him for the first time you said "You move me". What does that mean?"

Blaine laughed. "We, the Warblers, had this canary named Pavarotti, really he should have been named Pavarotti the 99th, at least. The newest member had to take care of him and guys were constantly showing up saying "Hey dude, where do you buy these things? We need a new one." So one day Kurt shows up out of uniform. That's the first thing I noticed. He's dressed in black and I remembered he said his dad had been sick recently, and he looked like he was going to cry. When he said he was upset because Pavarotti died, I almost laughed. I thought he was joking. I mean, it's just a $30 bird. Then he started singing "Blackbird" by the Beatles. I'd heard him sing lots of times, and it's a simple song, but that time there was so much behind it. I'd never heard anything like it. I don't know." He smiled thinking about it. "My turn. If you're not Sam's kind of girl how did you start going out with him?"

"Quinn and Santana had both dumped him and his family was having financial trouble. A couple of years ago my aunt and uncle visited the same week our washer broke. I had to take their little boy with me to the laundromat. You ever try to amuse a kid in a laundromat? So, I told him he could bring his brother and sister and do laundry here. I was already thinking about learning to play the guitar and I knew he played, so I offered him a job giving me lessons. Then my mom hired Sam to fix up my grandmother's garden. Don't look at me like that, it's not like I went around breaking things and paying Sam to fix them. Did Kurt tell you I saw him having breakfast at Tiffany's with Rachel? Okay, that really pissed me off, it's like they were cheating om me. But Sam was there too and he kept joking and trying to make me laugh. My turn. Right before you walked into the gym at the prom, what were you thinking?"

"I was thinking about all the places I'd rather be, which was almost anywhere. I didn't want to go to the prom in the first place, I only did it for Kurt. I wanted to go home. And I thought how strong and brave Kurt was, it was all his idea to go back. And how proud I was with him. My turn. What were you thinking when Sam was singing to you, that time you said no."

"Well, part of my problem with Sam was he acted like he didn't want to be seen in public with me so the song fixed that part. But I had another problem with Sam that he was glossing over. I hate it when people say "I'm sorry you felt bad about what I did". That's lame. You should say "I'm sorry I did blah, blah, blah." and grovel for forgiveness."

"And he did that in the kitchen?"

"Yes. Who's idea was it to bring him to my house?"

"Kurt's. He knew you were upset and Sam was part of the reason. He offered Sam a ride home and came here instead."

"Clever. My turn. Why did you pick _Candles_ for the competition?"

"That was a mistake, I think. Kurt distracted me, I wanted to make him happy. I think I just made the judges mad. I know I made a few of the Warblers mad."

"I think so too, about the judges that is. But you definitely made Kurt happy."

"That reminds me of something, is it my turn again? Finn said something about you and a windshield and Kurt said it was no big deal. What's that?"

"The most embarrassing day of my life." She grimaced. "Evidently I was the only person at McKinley who didn't know Kurt was gay. I asked him out, he said no. He said he was interested in somebody else. I thought he meant Rachel and next thing I knew I'd thrown an rock through his windshield. I don't even know where the rock came from. Anyway, turns out he did dump me for Rachel, in a sense."

"One more question, please? I'm sick you know." He grinned at her.

"Okay, one more question. Shoot."

"Why art school instead of music school? You're a really good singer, you know."

"Thank you for saying that. Rachel asked me if I thought I had the drive to make a career. I don't think so, it's a brutal way to make a living. I want to study photography, get a job with the local paper here. That will get me press credentials. Then, if I'm lucky, Pulitzer Prize."

"You're kidding."

"Okay, I know it's stupid. It's only $10,000 but I want it for the prestige. At first I thought you had to be lucky enough to be standing there with a camera when somebody's getting shot, while trying to avoid getting shot yourself. But there's a category for feature photography, photo essays. I'd just need to find somebody photogenic with an interesting story. There's lots of interesting stories."

"It's not stupid at all. That's why I'm going to be a Lit or Journalism major. Probably both. I can write and Kurt will perform. Maybe I can get a Pulitzer, Grammy and a Tony. I'll be a triple-threat."

"We should do _Wurlitzer Prize _for our assignment Monday, assuming you're okay on Monday."

"What's that?"

"Norah Jones and Willie Nelson." she started singing

They oughtta give me the Wurlitzer Prize  
>For all the silver I let slide down the slot<br>Playin' those songs sung blue  
>That help me remember you<br>I don't wanna get over you

A fresh roll o' quarters, same old songs  
>Missin' you through and through<br>I don't wanna get over you  
>I don't wanna get over you<p>

"Anyway, think about it." She leaned over and touched his forehead with the back of her hand. "Feels like your fever's gone. And I think I just heard your boyfriend pull up."

The doorbell rang.

FF_2947886_ - Page 6 of 6 - Word Count: 1835


	13. Chapter 13 Borrowed Angels

Tina was sitting on Mercedes' bed, examining a jewelry catalog. The pretty Asian girl was plotting her escape from the future her parents had outlined for her. "Can you believe what they get for this stuff? I'm gonna be rich!" She flipped the page. "Vintage, ha! Used is what they call it at the thrift store." She looked at her best friend. "I think I can get my parents to spring for college if I say I'm going for a MBA. Then I'll just take a bunch of art 'electives' and I'm set." She noticed Mercedes was staring into space. "Hey, are you okay?"

Mercedes nodded. "As fine as a pregnant girl can be."

"Shit! No! Really? How can that be?"

"The usual way."

"You and Sam? All _Love Shack_ up in here? No! Does Sam know?"

"Well, he was there at the time."

"Oh, you're pretty smart now, aren't you? Come over here and sit down for a minute. How pregnant are you?"

"Three months."

"Okay." she looked at Mercedes' stomach. "So what did Sam do?"

"He was surprised."

"Surprised like "How could you do this to me?" Or surprised like "Woohoo, Baby momma!"

"Surprised like "accidents happen". He wants to get married."

"Well shit! What's the problem?"

"Sam's parents don't think we should get married."

"Parents, tell me about it. Mike's parents hated me and my shady biological background. They were happy to send him off to UCLA, they considered it money well-spent if only to get him away from me."

"Well, your background is kinda shaky."

"Don't go there!" she said smiling. "Why don't Sam's parents like you?"

"Hey! People like me! Sam's mother was a pregnant 17 year-old when she married Sam's father. That's his step-father he lives with. She doesn't think being pregnant is a good reason to get married. Sam's not 18 yet and can't get married unless they sign. They think Sam should just move in and help me with the baby. If we still want to get married in a couple of years we can get married then."

"Okay, so what's the problem?"

"I can't go to college with a baby."

"People with babies go to college all the time. You have this house already paid for, you have enough money to go to college. Sam can earn enough money to buy food, especially since you guys only eat grubs and nuts around here. Would it kill Blaine to buy a bag of chips? Or Sam could be in charge of the baby, he's good with kids. What's the real problem?"

"I don't know, just scared I guess. What do I have to be scared about? I love him, he loves me, I've got plenty of money."

"And your baby would be damned cute."

"Being with Sam 'til death do you part." She smiled. "I could do a lot worse."

* * *

><p>Valentine's Day was Blaine's favorite holiday. He had always liked the idea of a day dedicated to love, and this year he was in love with a guy who loved him back. This year Valentine's day was on Tuesday, in the middle of the week. He'd celebrated with Kurt last weekend and had big plans for this weekend too. And his mother had even complimented Kurt, which was something to note because she didn't particularly care for Kurt. Maybe she was finally accepting the idea that Blaine really was gay, and not just going through 'a phase'.<p>

He was surprised to see Mercedes apparently asleep at the kitchen table. She said she wasn't feeling well and had left school early.

"Are you okay?"

She lifted her head slowly "I need a ride to the hospital." She was obviously in pain.

"Sure, can you walk?"

"Yeah. And can you call Tina and ask her to pick up Sam and meet me there?"

"Okay."

"And can you not call anybody else? Just Sam and Tina?"

"Of course."

* * *

><p>Blaine sat in the waiting room, staring at the ceiling when a young intern walked up. "Are you the father?"<p>

"No, her father died a couple of months ago." he answered automatically before thinking, he can't possibly be asking me if I am I her father.

"No, are you the baby's father?"

"No, I'm a friend. But he's on his way."

"I need to talk to him when he gets here. Thanks. You can go in now."

She looked pale, tired and had been crying. "Hi." He squeezed her hand.

"Thanks for the ride. Is Sam coming?"

"Any minute, I just talked to him. Are you going to be okay?"

"That's what they say."

Blaine had no idea what to say next. Should he ask what happened? He didn't even know she was pregnant. He decided to just hold her hand. She had fallen asleep but woke when Sam came in, followed by Tina and by an older woman he assumed was Sam's mother.

"Oh, baby, I'm so sorry." he said gathering her in his arms. Sam's mother kissed her forehead and stroked her hair. Tina held back with Blaine.

"Thanks Blaine." Tina said. "Let's wait outside."

Blaine and Tina walked to the waiting room. "You can go home now. The doctor said she's going to be okay. They just want to keep her overnight to make sure."

"I didn't know she was pregnant."

"You weren't supposed to know and she was only a couple of months along. And now it's over." Tina sat down and rubbed her temples like she had a headache. "Dashiell."

"What?"

"Dashiell. That's what she wanted to name the baby, she thought the name could go either way, boy or girl. Sam said they'd call him Dash or her Shell."

"Dashiell Hammett was a writer. The Maltese Falcon."

"Oh. Anyway, you should go home. Sam's spending the night here. I'll stop by after I drop off Sam's mom and pick up some stuff for Mercedes."

* * *

><p>The doctor said she was fine but Mercedes decided to take the rest of the week off. She sent Sam and Blaine back to school, she wanted to be alone for a while. When Blaine came home from school on Friday he was surprised to see Sam digging in the garden in the back yard. Mercedes was sitting on the back steps holding a small box on her knees. Blaine didn't want to think about what was in that box.<p>

She looked up at him. "We'll be done in a few minutes."

When he looked out the window later they were standing in the garden, facing each other, holding hands. They were singing. What do you sing at a time like this? He opened the door.

They reach a little deeper, they see what's in your soul  
>And even when they leave you know, you'll never let them go<br>The world's a little richer, just cause they came along  
>Their love goes on and on, so why do they go so soon?<br>The ones with souls so beautiful. I heard someone say-

They must be Borrowed Angels, here in this life  
>They come along, into this world, and make this world bright<br>But they can't stay forever, cause they're heaven sent  
>And sometimes heaven needs them back again.<p>

How else can you explain why they're here and not here to stay?  
>I believe they must be, must be<p>

They must be Borrowed Angels, here in this life  
>They come along, into this world, and make this world bright<br>But they can't stay forever, cause they're heaven sent  
>And sometimes heaven needs them back again.<br>And sometimes heaven needs them back again.

* * *

><p>Borrowed Angels - Kristin Chenoweth<p>

okay - that was super sad but this is the next to last chapter.

FF_2947886_ - Page 5 of 5 - Word Count: 1310


	14. Chapter 14 Fidelity

**Ten years later - class reunion**

Sam spotted Mercedes the minute he walked in. She seem to be by herself, and she seemed to be working the room, moving from table to table, talking to everybody. She wore her hair shorter now, and had kept off the weight she'd lost in senior year. She was dressed in the vaguely Indian style she'd started wearing, today wearing an emerald green dress, his favorite color. She was talking to Kurt and Blaine when she glanced across the room and locked eyes with him. He had once asked her how she managed to look more beautiful every time he saw her. She thought he was joking but he had meant it, and she was still doing it.

She walked over to him. "Sam?" His hair was brown and he wore it short now but it was definitely Sam Evans. With the shorter hair she could focus on his face, and it was still a damned fine face. Maybe a litter more serious but she could still see that twinkle of optimism she liked. She hugged him tightly and kissed him like he'd just returned from WWII. Shit, she thought, what if his wife and six kids are standing right behind him? She let him go, "Sorry. It's really good to see you."

"It's good to see you, too." Kurt and Blaine had also walked over.

"Kurt, Blaine, you remember Sam, Sam Evans?"

"Hello" Kurt said extending his hand.

"Kurt, I saw your play." They shook hands. "I enjoyed it. Nicely written." He nodded at Blaine.

"You did?" Kurt said. "Where?"

"Philadelphia. That's not far from where I'm stationed."

"Stationed as in military?" Mercedes asked.

"Yes, Navy."

"How is that?" So far no wife had appeared.

"I like it. The structure, the travel. I just got an assignment to a hospital ship and it's a great posting." He smiled at her. "You wrote that play, didn't you?" he asked Blaine.

"Yes, thank you. What are you doing in addition to the Navy? Wife? Kids?"

"No wife, no kids. Right now I live in base housing. How about you, Mercedes?"

"You know me, bird on a wire and all that."

"Some time you'll have to tell me about life on a Navy ship." Blaine said. "How long will you be in town?"

"I have to be back in Baltimore by Thursday. I thought I'd take my time driving back. I've never seen the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and it's on the way."

"Mercedes," Blaine said "what if Sam stops over tomorrow afternoon? That's where Kurt and I are staying. Can you make it for lunch, 12 tomorrow? We're flying back to NY tomorrow night. Wait! Here's an idea! How about 10 or 11 and Mercedes can interview you for the Lima Local. The hospital ship is unusual, you did say hospital ship, right?"

"Yes, I did. If you're not busy tomorrow I'd like that a lot." He said to Mercedes.

"Me too." she said smiling. "I'm up early, come over whenever you want."

"I didn't know you wrote."

"It's just a local paper. I like to think of myself as a photographer. I only took the job to get press credentials. Blaine's right, it's a good subject for an interview."

* * *

><p>"Good morning." he said handing her a bunch of roses as she opened the front door.<p>

"Thank you." she hugged him.

"I missed you yesterday. You left pretty early."

"I hadn't planned to go at all. Blaine and Kurt insisted. I left before the dancing started – I find it kind of awkward to be at a party by myself when I'm not working."

"Really? You seemed to be having a good time."

"I have to be sociable for my job, my real job. Plus when you're self-employed you have to make sure everybody who might need a photographer knows your name. When I left I went over to Tina and Artie's. They have 4 girls, can you believe it? I let the babysitter have the rest of the night off."

"I wanted to dance with you. They played our song."

"They played_ Love and Happiness_?" she laughed.

"Not that song." he said blushing. "_You Don't Know Me_? Junior Prom? Anyone can tell, you think you know me well, well you don't know me." He waited for her to finish the last verse.

"I don't sing anymore." She put the flowers in a vase. "Well, almost never. Just for Tina's kids. They won't go to sleep unless you sing _Sweet Baby James_ – and not a James in the bunch."

"Why did you stop singing? Your voice is so beautiful."

She shrugged, "Just did. Did you eat already? Would you like some coffee?"

"Yes, thank you." He opened the cabinet, the coffee cups were in the same place as ten years ago.

"Let's talk on the porch. Blaine and Kurt are still sleeping. Do you mind if I take pictures?"

They sat on the pack porch with their coffee. Mercedes was also carrying a camera, a digital recorder, notebook, file folders and a notebook.

"For a bird on a wire you carry a lot of equipment."

She laughed and turned on the recorder.

"Okay, here we go. There are 2 hospital ships and you're out of Baltimore so that would be the USNS Comfort?"

"Correct. How'd you know that."

"Research" she patted the file folder. "And what exactly do you do on board?" she asked after he confirmed her basic research.

"I'm a nurse."

"Really? You were so into your macho rep and you went into nursing?"

"Macho rep? I wouldn't say that but maybe it looked that way 10 years ago. Anyway, being a nurse isn't that unusual. Half the nurses I work with are men."

"Okay, do you specialize in any particular area?"

"No, not on board. There's not a lot of demand for it on a hospital ship but my favorite rotation - Labor and delivery."

"You're kidding? Babies? You deliver babies?" she stared at him. "How can you do that?"

"You spend all your time taking pictures of babies and weddings. How can you do that?"

They were both thinking of Dashiell, their baby who had died 10 years ago and was buried 40 feet from where they were currently sitting.

"Okay, I get it. Some people get a happy ending. Why not celebrate with them?" She looked at her notes. "Okay, back to work. How many babies?"

"About 20 so far. The mom does all the work. Actually there's a doctor or midwife in charge."

"What if something goes wrong?"

"Part of the training, learning to see when something's going wrong. Anyway, I'm thinking of going to school for midwife training."

"Never heard of a male midwife, not that I know anything about midwives."

"It's rare, male midwives that is, but I think I want to do that."

"When does that start?"

"In the fall."

"Good luck. Do you want you picture for the paper taken inside or outside?" she switched off the recorder.

"You're the expert. Can I have one for my folks?"

"Sure, I should have asked you earlier. How is your family?"

"Fine. Glad we all moved back to Memphis. Stevie and Stacey are doing well. Stacey's married and has a little boy."

"Already? Isn't she awful young?"

"Well, who am I to talk? Ben's two now. Stacey came with me the last time I was in Lima, on Dashiell's birthday."

"That was Stacey? I thought that was your wife."

"You saw us? Why didn't you say something?"

"At first I wasn't sure it was you, the hair and all. Then when I got home I saw the flowers. There's nobody that would send me flowers on Valentine's day, and even if there was they wouldn't leave them in the garden. I figured the flowers were for Dashiell. Anyway, I always thought that's what your wife would look like, a pretty blonde."

"No." A sad expression crossed his face. "My wife looked nothing like Stacey."

"You have a wife?"

"I had a wife, Patrice. She was a Marine. She died about 3 years ago."

"I'm so sorry."

"Thank you." Sam was quiet for a minute. "That's why Stacey was with me. We went to Chicago for Patrice's funeral, and it was February so I came here too. I think Stacey was worried that I was going to do something rash."

"And were you, going to do something rash?"

"I'm here now, aren't I?"

"That's not proof. I'm here."

"What does that mean?" Sam looked at her. He put down his coffee cup and picked up her hand. She had seemed to take the miscarriage harder than her parents death but eventually she'd seemed close to normal. She'd started working on her art portfolio again and applied to schools far from Ohio.

"That's the real reason I dropped out of art school. I was that roommate that cries all the time. So eventually they decided it was a delayed reaction – my parents, the baby, leaving home. They put me on anti-depressants and I took them. All of them, and washed them down with a bottle of wine. It was Valentine's day so I expected my roommate to be out all night. But she had a fight with her boyfriend and came home early." She sighed. "The official story is it was cheaper to buy the equipment I needed and just start a studio than to pay 4 years of tuition, which is also true."

"I'm sorry. Was I responsible of any of that?"

"You? No, your folks moved back to Memphis, what choice did you have but to go with them? I swore I was getting out of Lima, you couldn't just tag along."

"I'm glad your roommate got back in time."

"Thanks. You said your wife's name was Patrice? I've never met a white Patrice."

"She was black. Don't look so shocked. Let me tell you how I met Patrice. I was working in Labor and Delivery. I was a lactation specialist working with a friend of hers who'd just had a baby."

"Back up. What's a lactation specialist?"

"I worked with moms having trouble breastfeeding."

Mercedes stared at him for several minutes. "I'm just trying to visualize how I would feel if I came in for an appointment and there you are, telling me to take off my shirt."

"See, that's the thing. If I said I was a doctor that thought would never cross your mind. Well, maybe your mind because you know me, but not the average mom. But I got that all the time, and that was the problem with Patrice's friend. She kept canceling because she didn't think I knew what I was talking about. Then Patrice dragged her in, I mean, if you're going to breastfeed a baby you don't have months to make up your mind."

He smiled at the memory. "So she drags her friend in there and says "Is this the white boy you're afraid of?" and the friend starts laughing and everything's okay. She was just tense, that was her problem. I found out later Patrice had just met her. Her friend's husband had been deployed and she didn't know anybody on base. Patrice took charge of her, she was like that, kind of like you a little."

"Did Patrice sing?"

"Patrice loved to sing." he laughed even harder. "She was bad, really bad. Couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, as my grandma would say, and had no taste in music. And loud! Boy she could sing off-key with gusto. No, Patrice wasn't a replacement for you, she just had some qualities I like that you have too." He grinned at her. "So, Mercedes, why didn't you ever get married?"

"Nobody asked me. Well, nobody but you."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Well, believe it. It turns out I have trust issues. When I was fat, nobody wants a fat girl. When I got thin men were just after my body. Then the money, of course men only wanted me for my money. There was a song back then - "I never loved nobody fully, always one foot on the ground. And by trying to protect myself I broke my own heart. Or something like that."

Sam didn't say anything.

"You know what I like about you?" she asked. "Right now you're thinking "I told her that ten years ago." Admit it!"

"No, right now I'm wondering what you'd say if I invited you to go to the Rock and Roll Museum with me."

"Where is it?"

"Cleveland, just a couple of hours away."

"I don't know. You know what happened the last time we went to a museum."

They laughed and walked down to the garden.

* * *

><p><strong>-the end-<strong>

* * *

><p>The song Mercedes is misquoting is Fidelity by Regina Spektor<p>

FF_2947886_ - Page 8 of 8 - Word Count: 2217


	15. Epilogue  Chapel of Love

Mercedes focused her camera on her favorite model, Kurt Hummel. He'd aged, but he'd aged well. He still had that porcelain complexion, that chestnut brown hair, those dazzling blue eyes. And today he was radiantly happy. Fifteen years ago, back in high school, she'd thought he was beautiful. She had also thought she was in love with him. That second part wasn't true but now, as a professional photographer, she was sure he was technically beautiful.

Of course Kurt never thought of himself as a model, he was a performer, which was how he made a living these days. He'd only modeled during college when he needed money. He posed for Mercedes because she was a friend, and he loved having his picture taking back then, but that was 15 years ago. Now it was just part of his job. Except today.

Kurt was chattering away the way he did when he was excited. Rachel was going to sing. She'd walk down the aisle singing _Chapel of Love_. "Going to the chapel, and we're gonna get married."

Mercedes smiled, it was so Kurt. Sweet and sensitive and sappy at the same time. It was something Sam would do. Sam hadn't come to New York for the wedding, her husband was home with their little girl, Rita. She continued taking pictures while Kurt rambled. If someone had told her 5 years ago that she'd have a husband, a child, and yes – a freaking Pulitzer Prize, she wouldn't have believed it.

Sam had literally made all her dreams come true. Her closest friends, Tina Abrams and Blaine Anderson, would snicker and roll their eyes if she said that out loud, but they could laugh if they wanted, it was true. Sam would say her writing and photography skills might have something to do with the Pulitzer prize part.

Sam reappeared in her life at the class reunion 5 years ago and casually mentioned he was becoming a midwife. Unusual he'd called it. Mercedes knew a potential story when she heard one, she'd learned that much from Blaine. What percentage of certified nurse midwives are male she wondered. Two percent, that's what. She'd spent two years, off and on, documenting his academic progress. Having an excuse to see so much of him was a bonus, better than the Pulitzer. Mercedes spun the story into a series of articles; giving birth in America, the military medical system, life after military service, males in a female dominated profession. She had no trouble getting it printed in a newspaper, the requirement for a Pulitzer Prize nomination. And she won! Mercedes Jones Evans was a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist. Hah!

She'd told Blaine years before she wanted the prize just for the prestige, not the money. In fact, she'd given the money, $10000, away. She set up a Glee club travel fund to match any funds the club raised, in the name of Dashiell Evans. It was her way of saying thank you to Mr. Schuester. Thank you for ignoring me for three years. If you had acted like I had talent I would have never picked up a camera and I'd be a starving backup singer today.

And Rita was another miracle. After Dashiell, after Mercedes had been cleared to "resume relations" as the doctor phrased it, she and Sam had "relations" with wild abandon. They hadn't discussed trying to have a baby, but neither one was taking precautions to avoid having a baby either and they both knew it. Six months and no baby. Mercedes figured that was one more thing she wasn't fated to have. Then, two years ago she'd gone into labor – and she hadn't even known she was pregnant. Lucky thing she had a husband who knew all about birthing babies. Rita had been small, only 4 pounds, but she was a fighter and healthy.

Kurt was rattling on about babies. He wanted a family, which meant children. They had already chosen a surrogate. He was successful, not quite as successful as Rachel, but successful enough that he could turn down jobs and not worry there wouldn't be another. He could afford to take some time off, time off for babies and play-dates.

Rachel, his "best woman" walked in and he abruptly shifted gears. Mercedes was taking pictures the whole time and noticed the sad expression that quickly flickered across his face. He hugged Rachel, in that tender intimate way they had with each other, and started talking about a joint project they were doing. That picture might not make a wedding album but she knew they would like it when they saw it.

Rachel's husband Noah walked in, followed by Kurt's brother Finn, his dad Burt and his step-mother Carol. The hotel room was getting more crowded by the minute. The only person missing, the man that was pointedly spending time with friends in Columbus Ohio, was Blaine Anderson.

FF_2947886_ - Page 3 of 3 - Word Count: 833


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